The present invention relates to a system and method for integrating player tracking and cash access transactions in a casino environment. Specifically, the invention relates to a system and method, used in a variety of environments including casinos, to facilitate cash-access/credit-access and player tracking.
Casino gaming is a highly popular activity in today's society. Often times, enjoyment of the casino gaming experience is predicated upon a player's ability to easily and effectively access a sufficient supply of money, which in turn allows the player to participate in gaming activities for a desired length of time. Casino patrons typically attempt to bring a sufficient amount of currency to the casino that can be used with various gaming machines or exchanged for negotiable chips or casino-issued cards. Not infrequently, however, patrons forget to bring a sufficient amount of currency to the casino or patrons deplete the supply they brought before they are ready for the gaming experience to end.
In these instances, the casino patrons will want to access additional currency, or otherwise extend their time playing the casino games, by withdrawing the necessary currency from a financial institution at which the player maintains an account. For example, a player with a financial institution card, such as a credit card, debit card, or bank card, can utilize an automated teller machine (ATM) that is located on the casino's premises to withdraw currency.
Such financial institution transactions are commonplace in casinos. However, existing cash access and cash advance systems often require manual entry of customer identification information as part of the transaction. Existing systems may also require the players to remember multiple PIN's that are associated with each of their financial intuition accounts or require that the players retrieve cash at an ATM and then physically transport the cash to a gaming machine. Although these current processes allow access to currency, players continue to look for more convenience while at the casino. Therefore, a need exists for a system and method of facilitating expeditious cash/credit access for players in a casino environment that minimizes the complications that currently exist for such transactions.
In addition to the complications that hinder current cash/credit access systems and methods, these current systems and methods also fail to provide comprehensive tracking of the players' financial transactions in casinos. While it is commonplace to attempt to track some of the patrons' actions in a casino that relate to gaming, these attempts typically fail to capture many financial transactions that occur on the casino's premises and to provide a comprehensive picture of the cash flow in the casino. Often casinos will provide patrons with player tracking cards that the player inserts at gaming machines, which allows the casino to monitor some of the patrons' gaming activities. As an incentive to use the player tracking cards, casinos often award gaming points to the patrons to encourage use of the cards. However, many financial transactions that occur in a casino are not effectively monitored or tracked by the casino.
The quality and breadth of current player tracking can be increased by providing additional incentives to the players. Therefore, in addition to the need for facilitating expeditious cash/credit access transactions, there is a concurrent need for providing more comprehensive tracking of players' financial transactions in casinos.